Thursday, February 26, 2009

....as asked by the Black Crowes. Anyhoo, on with my exposé of my favourite shops in Perth, Australia.

Welcome to Remedy! (See where I was going? Clever, huh?) Remedy sells beautiful things that make brilliant presents. Everything feels special and I'd be pretty happy to have people buy me presents from Remedy (hint, hint). They stock the super brilliant Third Drawer Down range (which I'll try to write about in more detail one day - I'm smitten) and the popluar Carrie Chau items. Plus there's books, magazines, jewellery, and allsorts. Ooh, and the delicious Aesop skincare range. Quite frankly, I think my Best on Show brooches would fit in quite nicely - if only I could find them in my boxes....

You can find Remedy on High Street in Fremantle, and they now have a store on Oxford Street in Leederville! Admittedly, I've been out of the country for a while, so this might not be news to you locals. Actually, while you're on Oxford Street, be sure to head north to number 324 where you'll find Merchants of Fancy, a curiosity shop, haircut shop, art shop & coffee shop all mashed in together.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Right, so I may have received my boxes (finally!) but I’m yet to set my studio up because it is currently acting as a guest room. (The poor boy is surrounded by piles of fabric and boxes of craft).To keep you interested in the meantime, I’m going to introduce you to some of my favourite shops around town! (Does the obscure title make any more sense now?).

Keith + Lottie is a brilliant little shop in Northbridge (Perth, W.Australia) which sells an eclectic mix of goodies. Clothing, magazines, jewellery, shoes, books, stationary. But wait! There's more! - beyond the shop is a small gallery with regular high calibre exhibitions. And still there's more! - beyond the gallery is The Butcher Shop, a funky little space selling clothing, art supplies and other stuff. Still want more? - head upstairs to Whitegoods where you'll find blank products crying out to be customised - tees, canvases, skate decks, vintl toys, babushka dolls! Want more?! - Well now you're just being greedy. :)

The best thing about this group of businesses (apart from the fact that they seem to be at the helm of the movement to reinvigorate this part of the city) is the oh-so-gorgeous Frank, seen in the image above. He is so super adorable and can often be found in store. But want a piece of him to take home? (Not literally of course, though i guess The Butcher Shop would be the place to go). Well take a look at these tees from The Butcher Shop!

(psst! - sale alert! - up to 50% off stuff right now! I know I sound like a spruiker, but I assure you I'm in no way affiliated with Keith + Lottie. I just have a crush....). I'll share another store tomorrow....

Monday, February 16, 2009

I can't recall the last time I won something, which makes winning something even more exciting! And it's not just something - it's a Skinny laMinx teatowel!!

Having just moved to Perth (Australia) from Napier (New Zealand) I'm in the process of re-aquiring SO many things, teatowels being one of them. Alas, the teatowels I do own are STILL in transit with the rest of my things (including all my crafty goodness). Fingers crossed for an arrival this week. So this prize is beautiful AND practical!

Thank you so much to Heather for hosting this Valentine's giveaway and to Paul for plucking me from the heart shaped box. Of course, I'll probably find it's just too lovely to use for drying dishes. But that's just fine too....

(psst! - if you'd like a tea towel like this one, you can head to Heather's shop!)

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

I've been tagged by Shannon at Rabbit and the Duck to take part in a photo game!Here's the deal:"Open the 6th picture folder on your computer, open the 6th photo and blog it. Write something about it. Then tag 6 more people to do the same."

Like Shannon, my photo filing is a bit haywire, but surprisingly, I did have a 6th folder with a 6th photo. Most unexpected, but not any sort of indication of organisation on my part.

The strange part is that my photo is earily similar to a subsequent post of Shannon's about the bushfires in Victoria, Australia. Fortunately, the amazing sky in my photo isn't the result of bushfires. It was taken from outside my home one evening a couple of years ago as the sun went down over the sea. Having lived on a west coast for most of my life, I'm so used to sunsets over water. It seems strange to me that it should be any other way.The fires in Victoria are so hard to fathom. Hundreds are dead and thousands are homeless. It's hard to believe it's really happened, and it's not over yet. If anyone would like to donate, please head to the Australian Red Cross and/or to RSPCA Victoria. I'm donating 1 hour pay to each and hope you can too, but anything you can give will of course help. If you can't afford a cash donation, there are other ways you can help. If you're in Australia, donate blood. Take a look at Meet Me At Mike's for a heap of ways your craftyness can help too.Hmm, ok, tagging 6 bloggers is tricky as I'm a bit out of touch with things!

Secondly, Jesse from Jezze, just because she makes cool stuff and is generous with her helpful advice!

Next is Megan from Little Breeze who takes beautiful photos, so I can't wait to see what her 6th photo is!

And finally (for now) is Ceci from migamiga. I found Ceci because people seemed to find me from her blog. Embarassingly, it took me a few visits before I realsied that her blog is in Spanish AND English! (I had only noticed the Spanish so was just looking at the pictures). Plus, she has a beautiful ginger cat (I'm a dog preson but have a soft spot for ginger cats).

That's a good mix of nationalities too - American, South African, Australian and Spanish. The pressure's on for the next 2 tags now! If only I knew bloggers in South America and Asia....

Friday, February 6, 2009

Last night my mum and I went to see Casablanca on the big screen. It was showing as part of the Summerset Festival which is run by the City of Stirling here in Perth, W. Australia. More specifically, it was part of the Cafe Culture 3 day festival just around the corner from home (oh, how I've missed inner-city living!).

I'd never seen it before and was completely unprepared for how funny it is! The writing is very clever and the minor characters are brilliant. I see a Casablanca themed project popping up in the future for sure! If you haven't seen it be sure to check it out, and enjoy these few snippets:

Ugarte: You despise me, don't you? Rick: If I gave you any thought I probably would. Yvonne: Where were you last night? Rick: That's so long ago, I don't remember. Yvonne: Will I see you tonight? Rick: I never make plans that far ahead.

We watched it in The Astor cinema, a very beautiful Art Deco cinema which is now unfortunately only used for special events. Behind us was a guy in his 70's who sweetly sung "As Time Goes By" each time Sam played it. When the lights came on he had the biggest smile on his face. So sweet.

In other news, my crafty boxes should be arriving next week from NZ so I should be able to get back into creatve stuff and stop boring you with my random stories!!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

I've only recently discovered the wonderful blanket magazine (where have I been?!) thanks to a link on Erin's Design for Mankind blog a while back. I've just downloaded the new issue, and oh my!, it's wonderful! There's so much content and it's all so great. This issue's theme is Blue. I particularly like the article on songs with blue in the title. You should head on over to the website and download a copy for yourself! They have a blog too (it's here).

Excitingly, they accept submissions from pretty much anyone (me even?) so I might just see if I can come up with a super idea for the next issue - the theme is Communication.